March 10, 2012
Mitchell D. Revalski
I arrived at the NJAA around 4PM EST. Vlad, Bruce, and I opened both the 26” and RCX domes. We moved swiftly as the sun set to catch elusive Mercury. We managed to get it in the RCX just before sunset. It is always surprising just how small Mercury appears even with high magnification. Both Vlad and I got video recordings with the DMK Camera just after sunset. Unfortunately, the combination of low altitude, and looking through the heat stack coming from the rear vent of the NJAA, made imaging difficult. Despite this we both obtained an “image” showing the partially illuminated nature of Mercury.
Next we moved on and imaged Jupiter and Venus. Using some tips from Wayne Jaeschke’s talk just the night before we got some good, and more scientifically useful results shooting through both the IR and RGB filters. I obtained the images below for Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter. I chose not to submit the Mercury image due to the overall low quality. It was still an excellent learning experience.
Primary lessons learned consist of the following. For Jupiter, as I did not intend to make a RGB color composite, the duration between color filters is less important. As such I would like to double the capture time for each color to get a cleaner stacked image. Furthermore, it seems adjusting the exposure settings while keeping the gain as low as feasible should produce cleaner images with less noise.
ALPO Image Database Link:
ALPO Image Database Link:
This image was not submitted to ALPO.
Image Comments: Note some images were processed using Registax 6 while others were done with AutoStakkert 2 per Wayne Jaeschke’s recommendation. This program is much simpler, but still has some bugs being worked out by the creator for the newly released second version.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions about the images above regarding the capture or processing procedure. Direct questions and comments to mitchellrevalski@gmail.com
In addition, Vlad and I tried using the 26” on Mars with a 2X Barlow shooting at an incredible 16,000mm focal length. The image on the screen, while huge, was also surprisingly clear! Unfortunately, due to the high magnification, the light was so dim that after stacking a poor image was produced. However, using the 26” telescope without a barlow will likely produce much better images rivaling that of the RCX perhaps. The Research Committee will experiment further with this in the coming months.
Furthermore, Steve Gale stopped in later in the evening with drawings he had just produced; it was fun and interesting to compare the camera pictures with good old pencil and paper. We noted a number of similarities in the banding characteristics of Jupiter.
William Anthony, director of the Research Committee, was also present for the majority of the evening and provided good guiding tips on producing better images by utilizing the histogram feature of the capture software as well as doing astrophotography of his own. Bill also changed the filter wheel setup per Wayne Jaeschke’s recommendation, putting the IR filter in front of the wheel to stop any “IR leaks” the color filters may have. Thus now all images are through solely the IR or IR and RGB combinations.
On an unrelated note we had several curious visitors come to our front door. While it was not actually a public night Vlad and I showed half a dozen people objects through the RCX telescope. All left with smiles.
Toward the end of the night I decided to forego waiting another hour or two for Saturn, which was also very close to the moon, in favor or waiting a month or so when it will be better placed during opposition.
Overall, a very successful night with some good images produced and many lessons learned for the future.
End of Report
March 10, 2012
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